Feta Chicken Salads & A Pre-Planned Packed Lunch

The star of the salad? This tasty Euphrates feta cheese that I was sent last week. The company was apparently started in 2002 by the same person who later founded Chobani. Cool!

Major yum. I couldn’t say no to this review request — ya’ll know how I feel about feta 😉 They sent me two ENORMOUS blocks of it (each are seriously larger than my head), so expect to see a lot of feta gracing the blog this month, ha.

The base of the salad was mixed greens and baby spinach, topped with black olives, fresh yellow and red peppers, grilled squash, lots of feta cheese, and chicken. Matt used our panini press to grill the chicken, which he seasoned with a mix of spicy hot pepper, paprika, etc. Delish!

We had a lot leftover when we were finished eating so I decided to plan ahead and pack up my lunch for today before putting everything away. Best idea ever. It was so easy to grab it and go this morning! I need to do this more often.

Into a large tupperware, I threw a serving of the salad and topped it with a quinoa and black bean mixture I had leftover in the fridge. I’ve really been loving the grains-on-top-of-salads thing lately.

Have a wonderful day and stay cool out there! It’s supposed to be up to 100 here today… gah!

Do you pack your lunch the morning of or the night before? I’m pretty much always a last minute morning lunch packer (hence my healthy packed lunch in 5 minutes series), but I think I might need to start doing it the night before — so much easier!

Haha I actually almost said the SAME thing…I almost replied to my own comment with “though with the minis you can mix and match flavors and you can’t really get better than that” – totally agree with you

I usually pack my lunch the night before- or at least most elements of it. As I’m cleaning up dinner and putting up leftovers I try to portion them out into lunch-grabbable containers. Love just being able to dump everything into my lunch bag in the morning before work!

During the first half of the school year, I’m really good at packing my lunch the night before. Then after spring break, I become quite the slacker and just scramble to put something together right before I leave for work!

I wish I could get mini Larabars in those flavors! The only minis that I ever see come in a box with flavors that have walnuts in them and I am allergic! lol. I always pack my lunch the night before because I don’t like feeling super rushed in the morning.

That is my kind of salad. Matt is a keeper, what a guy. Being as I am a domestic engineer and care during the day for 3 of my 8 grand kids, I do plan a menu. In fact, I have always planned a menu for my family all these years and cook dinners on the weekends and freeze them for the following week. I have to do this or I become overwhelmed and that “ain’t” a pretty thing to see.
Anne, that is why I love your recipe page and your blog so much. It is quick and easy recipes and at my finger tips and the family has loved everything that I have made from them.

Packing the night before is definitely ideal! If I “pack” the morning of my lunch bag is usually twice the size as it normally is since I usually toss an entire loaf of bread and sandwich makings into a bag! That feta looks amazing.

I pack the night before! Then it’s just grab and go in the morning, and no dirtying cutting boards in the morning. And less likely to just throw something together when my brain isn’t thinking of dinner early in the a.m.!

Hi Anne! I love your blog! Just to comment on your post today – I make my lunch before work. It’s something I’ve tried to do every morning for awhile now, but the pictures of your lunches definitely inspire me to keep at it! It’s enjoyable to make and totally worth getting up a little earlier for – no need to stand in line or pay $$ for something you can do yourself, right? I love the salad you had last night too!

we don’t let leftovers go to waste in our house. they get portioned up and packed in containers and sometimes frozen for later lunches. Our lunches are always packed the nite before…saves on the AM frenzy that goes on in our house with husband and two kids leaving for work/school and my 1 yr old tugging at my pants needing mommy!

I always (ALWAYS) make my smoothie, pack my lunch, and gather snacks the night before. I also fill up my water bottle. I leave by 6:15; so doing this the night before allows me to sleep as long as possible. Also, I’m not great at making important decisions early in the morning.

I am definitely a morning lunch packer. Although if we are using leftovers, I sometimes pack those right after dinner into individual containers. My lunch typically includes a sandwich, a yogurt, a small apple, and a Kellogg’s FiberPlus(R) bar – but I think I may have to switch out the sandwich for a salad like yours tomorrow. It truly looks AMAZING!

I ALWAYS try and prepare at least half of my lunch the night before (i.e. putting together a sandwich without any of the mustard/toppings) or making my morning oatmeal the night before. I would rather spend 10 minutes getting things ready at 10PM than 10 minutes at 5:30AM!